Block-forming machine.



G. L. LANGER. BLOCK FORMING MACHINE. .APPLIOATION FILED MAY 4. 190a.

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

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Snow doc G'olllwldllan v G. L. LANGER. BLOCK FORMING MACHINE.APPLICATION TILED MAY'I. 1908.

Patented Aug. 24. 1909.

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W m m w m G. L. LANGER. BLOCK FORMING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 4.1908.

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Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

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APPLICATION FILED MAY 4. 1908.

Patented Aug. 24. 1909.

5744mm Gofllzoldll angel attomwz UNITED STATES PATENT o GOTTHOLDIhiLANGER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 ROY E. KEAGLE, 0FLODI, CALIFORNIA.

BLOCK-FORMING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 4, 1908. Serial No. 430,816.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Go'rTHoLD L. LANGER, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Block-FormingMachines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in machines used to press or formblocks of concrete or other material for building purposes, the objectof the invention being to produce a machine wherein the five operationsof filling the mold, pressing the concrete therein, discharging thepressed block from the mold and carrying said block away from the moldwill all be done in the time required to perform but one of saidfunctions; also to produce a simple and effective device for thepurpose. This object I accomplish by means of a mold member having fourmolds disposed at substantially rightangles to each other; amechanismfor rotating such mold mechanism; a means for pressing thematerial in said molds as said mold member rotates; a means forautomatically opening and closing the respective covers of said molds asrequired as said mold member rotates; and an automatic means foremptying and carrying the pressed block from said molds. Also by suchother and further construction and relative arrangement of parts as willmore fully appear by a perusal of the following specification andclaims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete device. Fig. 2 is avertical section of the device shown in the reverse position to thatshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the complete device. Fig.4 is a sectional view of an actuating gear mechanism. Fig. 5 is a sideelevation of a block receiving and conveying mechanism. Fig. 6 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 5 showing the parts in a different position. Fig. 7 is aside elevation of a gear locking mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the complete mold member. Fig. 9 is afragmentary sectional view of a door locking and releasing mechanism.

Referring more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings 1 designates the main frame of the device having two side framemembers 2 and 8, said members being eccentric at their forward sides asat 4 and 5, and being provided with inwardly projecting rails'or runways6 and 7 following the periphery of said eccentric portion, said members2 and 3 also being provided with inwardly projecting rails or runways 8and 9 following the concentric periphery of said members 2 and 3 fromthe limits of the eccentric portions 4 and 5 respectively and havingupward projections 10 and 11 respectively near the upper ends of saidmembers 2 and 3 for the purpose that will appear.

Journaled in the members 2 and 3 is a shaft 12 on which is keyed a moldmember formed of two plates 13 and 14 spaced apart and intermediatewhich are secured four molds 15 disposed at substantially right anglesto one another as shown, each mold being provided with a top door or lid16, each provided with rollers 17 adapted to bear over the runways 6 and7 and under the runways 8 and 9, as will appear. Also each mold 15 isprovided with sliding side door 18 adapted to slide into slots 19 at thebases of the next succeeding molds, when the pressed block is to bedischarged, as will appear. Said doors are held in normal closedposition by means of blocks 20 slidably disposed in slots 21 in themember 13 and provided with rollers 22 against which bear springs 23,said rollers being adapted to engage a cam 24 on the frame 2 when thepressed blocks are to be released, thus pulling the blocks 20 out ofengagement with the doors 18 permitting them to be opened as willappear.

In one edge of each of the members 18 at the outer ends thereof is acavity 25 in which is pivoted a disk 26 having an inwardly extending arm27 against which a spring 28 bears and an outwardly extending catch 29adapted under certain conditions to be forced by the spring 28 into abeveled mortise 30 in the corresponding outer edge of the mold 15, allas will appear.

Disposed in the bottom of eachmold 1.5

Patented Aug. 24, 1909.

are oppositely disposed pressing pistons 31 and 32 disposed betweenwhich are springs 33. On the pistons 31 are rollers 34 slidably disposedin slots 35 in the members 13 and 14 and running in eccentric runways 36on the faces of the members 2 and 3, whereby the said pistons 31 and 32will be forced outward as the molds rotate for the purpose of pressingthe material in said molds and then returning to release pressure whileblock is being removed and then to normal position when a completerevolution is accomplished.

Forward from the members 2 and 3 are side guide frames 37 and 38slidably disposed between which is a table frame 39 having a centralslot 410 through which normally faces a table 41 upheld by standards 42slidably disposed in guide sleeves 13 on the table frame 39. Said tableframe and table is operated by the following mechanism and in a manneras will appear viz 44L designates the main drive pulley of the devicehaving the usual drive belt 45, which pulley 4161 is keyed onto a sleeve46 freely turnable on the shaft 12. Secured on said sleeve 16 is apinion wheel 17 intermeshing with a large pinion wheel t8 mounted on ashaft 419 on the inner face of which pinion wheel are formed eccentricrunways 50 and 51, the runway 50 having four distinct curvatures, viZ.,52, 53, 5 1 and 55 and the runway 51 also having a like number ofdistinct curvatures, viz:-56, 57, 58 and 59, the curvatures 53, 55, 57and 59 being concentric with the said wheel 18, all for the functions aswill hereinafter appear.

Bearing in the cam 50 is a roller 60 having a vertical arm 61 having aprojecting slotted arm 62 in which bears a roller 63 having an arm 64connected with a shaft 65 extending across from side to side of themembers 37 and 38 and is slidably disposed in slots 66 therein, andsecured to such shaft 65 about the middle thereof is a lever 67connected by a link 68 to the under side of the table 11.

slidably mounted vertically on each end of the shaft 65 is a lever 69secured attheir upper ends to a shaft 70 ournaled across the tops of themembers 37 and 38, on one of which levers 69 is disposed a roller 71bearing in the cam 51.

On the lower ends of the levers 69 are cog racks 72 which engage cogwheels 73 which in turn engage with other cog wheels 7-1 on a shaft 75operatively connected with a chain conveyer 76 operating between themember 37 and 38 in substantial alinement with the outer edges of thetable 11, there being a clutch mechanism 77 disposed on said shaft 75,whereby the outward travel of the racks 72 will drive said conveyer 76forward and the inward drive of said racks will run free, all for thepurpose as will appear.

Secured to the shaft 12 is a gear wheel 78 having the gears thereondivided into four equal segments, there being a am 79 on the face ofsaid wheel 78 having four equal curved jaws 80 disposed between eachending of said segments and each being intermittently concentric withthe shaft 4.) as the wheel 78 rotates.

On the shaft 19 is secured a quarter segmental gear 81 adapted to engageevery revolution of the shaft 49 with one of the segments on the wheel78, while the disk 82 is secured on the face of said wheel 81, said disknormally engaging one of the jaws 8t) and having a blank portion 83 atthe point where the gears on the segment 81 are disposed, so that whenthe power is applied to the pulley it will be transmitted through thegears 17 and 4:8 to the segment gear 811, which as it revolves engagesone of the ment gears on the wheel 78 and turns the shaft 12 andincidei'itally the molds 15 one quarter turn. For the sake ofillustration we will presume that when the said quarter turn was madethat the upper vertical mold 15 had its top lid open as shown in thedrawing, which permitted it to be filled, and as said mold revolves theroller 1.7 on the mold runs under the runway 10, thus forcing andholding said lid closed. Vith the rotation of said mold the rollers 3%bearing in the eccentric runway 36 drive the pistons 31 and 32 outward,thus pressing the material within the molds, the springs 33 being ofsuch tension as to give when a predetermined pressure is reached, thusavoiding breakage of parts, the full pressure being reached on a halfrevolution of the molds and full pressure of springs remaining anotherone-eighth revolution, the pistons 31 and 32 returning to normal atthree quarters revolution so as to release the pressed block as willappear. The roller 17 at the same time engages the eccentric -land openssaid door 16, also aiding in releasing said block. As a three quarterrevolution of said molds is reached one of the rollers 22 engages thecam 2 1:, thus releasing the corresponding block 20 from the rear of itscorresponding door 18 and as the wheel 18 makes its second quarter turnas described the roller 60 bears in the eccentric curvature 52 and thusdrives the rod 61 and incidentally the rod 64 and lever 67 downward,thus carrying the table 41 downward for the purpose as will appear, andat the same time the roller 71 bears in the concentric curvature 57 andthus performs no active function but after said wheel makes said secondquarter turn and the gear 81 ceases engagen'ient with the gear 78 andthe molds are held stationary by means of the engagement of the disk 82in one of the jaws 80, then the roller 71 engages the eccentriccurvature 58, which action causes the levers 69 to slide the table framebackward away from the molds 15,

the roller 60 at the same time bearing in the concentric curvature 55,thus performing no active function, but it immediately strikes thecurvature 5 1 which pulls the table 41 upward into its top positionagain and while this is going on the roller 71 bears in the concentric,curvature 58v and performs no active function, but while said table ismoving up the gear 81 again engages the gear '78, thus turning the moldanother quarter turn and bringing another mold parallel to the tableframe 39. The molds are then locked stationary by means of the cam 79and disk 82, and then the roller 71 passes into the eccentric curvature56 and drives the table frame and table underneath its correspondingparallel mold 15 and drives the door 18 backward into its slot 19, thetable 41 taking the place of such door and receiving the pressed blockand then by means of the operation heretofore described the table lltravels downward to a lower plane than and thus deposits said block onthe conveyer 7 6 by which it is carried away by the operation of suchconveyer as described.

When the frame 39 drives the door 18 open as described the hook 29engages the notch 39 and then when the frame 39 reverses its movementthis hooked connection pulls the door 18 shut again, and then the spring28 tilts the hook 29 into the beveled groove 30 thus releasing it fromthe notch 39*. (See Fig. 9).

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have produced suchadevice as substantially fulfils the objects of the invention, as setforth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredembodiment of my invention, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from thespirit ofthe invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the characterdescribed,

two standards spaced apart, an eccentric and a concentric cam runway onsaid standards, molds turnably disposed between said standards, top lidson said molds, rollers on said lids adaptedto bear over said eccentriccams and under said concentric cams, as set forth.

2. In a device of the character described, a mold mechanism comprisingmolds, sliding doors in said molds, a receiving table and means forreplacing said sliding doors with said receiving table, as set forth.

3. In a device of the character described, a mold, a sliding doorthereon, a table, means for causing said table to replace said door, andmeans for replacing said door to normal position again, as set forth.

4. In a device of the character set forth two standards spaced apart,mold members rotatably disposed between said standards,

slidingdoors on said mold members, spring actuated blocks to maintainsaid doors in closed position, rollers on said blocks, and a cam on oneof said standards engaging said rollers, as set forth.

5. In a device of the character described revolving mold members,sliding doors thereon having lateral grooves in their ends, springactuated hooks in said grooves, and a table member adapted to engagesaid doors and hooks.

6. A device of the character described comprising the combination of amold member, a sliding door in said mold member, a reciprocating tableframe adapted to operate said sliding door, such sliding door having arecess therein, a disk pivoted in said recess, a spring controlled armon said disk, a catch on said disk, and a notch in said table frameadapted to engage said catch.

'7. A molding apparatus comprising a mold member, guide frames disposednear said mold member, a reciprocating table frame disposed between saidguide frames such table frame having a central slot, a table normallyfacing through said slot and carried by said table frame, means forreciprocating said table vertically independently of said table frame,said table frame being adapted to reciprocate under and away from saidmold member.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' GOTTHOLD L. LANGER.

Witnesses:

FRANK I-I. CARTER, PERoY S. WEBSTER.

